The doubt comes the following hadith:

It is narrated from al Miqdam ibn Maʿdikarib that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Indeed, I have been given the Book and something like it along with it. Soon there will be a man reclining on his couch who will say: Hold fast to this Qur’an.

Whatever you find in it lawful, make it lawful, and whatever you find in it unlawful, make it unlawful. Indeed, the meat of the domesticated donkey is not lawful for you, nor every beast with fangs, nor the lost property of a person under covenant, unless its owner has no need of it.

Whoever stays with a people, it is upon them to host him. If they do not host him, then he may take from them the equivalent of his due hospitality.’ (Sunan Abi Dawud 4604)

The hadith rejectors will claim this hadith contradicts the verse:

قُلْ لَئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنْسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَنْ يَأْتُوا بِمِثْلِ هَذَا الْقُرْآنِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا
Say: If mankind and jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they supported one another (al Isra 17:88),

Response to This Doubt

The main issue with hadith rejectors is that they lack understanding of what a hadith means and when reading hadiths from the lens of already having hatred for the hadiths of the prophet ﷺ.

Let us look at other Qur’an verses that speak about producing something similar to the Qur’an.

Allah says:

أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلَامُهُمْ بِهَذَا أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ * أَمْ يَقُولُونَ تَقَوَّلَهُ بَلْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ * فَلْيَأْتُوا بِحَدِيثٍ مِثْلِهِ إِنْ كَانُوا صَادِقِينَ
Or do their minds command them to this, or are they a people who transgress? Or do they say: He fabricated it? Rather, they do not believe. So let them (the disbelievers) produce a statement like it, if they are truthful (al Tur 52:32–34).

Allah also says:

قُلْ لَئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنْسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَنْ يَأْتُوا بِمِثْلِ هَذَا الْقُرْآنِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ
Say: If mankind and jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they would not produce the like of it (al Isra 17:88).

Thus, these verses speak about the inability of mankind and jinn to produce something like the Qur’an.

As for the statement of the Prophet ﷺ, ‘I have been given the Qur’an and something like it along with it,’ the wording indicates that he was given the Qur’an and something similar along with it.

He did not say: I produced something like the Qur’an.

Rather, he said: I was given the Qur’an and something like it.

The hadith speaks about Allah granting the Prophet ﷺ the Qur’an and something like it. The first concerns the incapacity of mankind and jinn. The second concerns what Allah bestowed upon His Messenger ﷺ. There is no contradiction between these two matters.

To clarify further, consider this example. If it is said that mankind and jinn cannot create the universe, and it is also said that Allah can create the universe, there is no contradiction. Likewise, if it is said that one person cannot walk, but another person can walk, there is no contradiction.

Now comes the following question which is: Can Allah produce something like the Qur’an?

Yes. Allah is capable of all things. He says:

مَا نَنْسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ أَوْ نُنْسِهَا نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِنْهَا أَوْ مِثْلِهَا أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring forth one better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah is capable of all things (al Baqarah 2:106).

Denying Allah’s ability to bring something like the Qur’an would imply denying His absolute power.

Sharh Of The Hadith By Shihāb al Dīn, Abū al ʿAbbās Aḥmad, The Shāfiʿī  Faqih

It is narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: ‘Indeed, I have been given the Book’ meaning the Qur’an, as stated explicitly in another narration.

‘And something like it along with it’ with “mithlahu” in the accusative case, meaning rulings, exhortations, and parables that resemble the Qur’an in that they are obligatory to accept and comparable in measure.

Al Baghawi said in Sharh al Sunnah: What is meant is that he was given revelation that is not recited, and the Sunnah which the Qur’an does not state explicitly, just as he was given the recited revelation. Allah says:

وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ
And He teaches them the Book and the Wisdom (al Baqarah 2:129).

The Book is the Qur’an, and the Wisdom is the Sunnah. He was also given its like in clarification, for explaining the Book was entrusted to the Messenger. Allah says:

وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ
And We sent down to you the Reminder so that you may clarify to the people what was sent down to them (al Nahl 16:44).

His statement ‘I have been given’ may mean that he was given it on the Night of Miʿraj, or that it was given through inspiration, or in a dream, or that Jibril عليه السلام cast it into his heart.

Sharḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd by Ibn Raslān (18/102–103)

So from this now we understand that the hadith concerns legal rulings and matters of what is lawful and unlawful. It teaches that obedience to the Messenger ﷺ in legislation is obligatory, just as obedience to the Qur’an is obligatory. It does not claim that the Sunnah matches the Qur’an in eloquence or miraculous nature.

The earlier verses are about the linguistic miracle of the Qur’an and the inability of its opponents to rival it.

The hadith addresses authority in legislation and the obligation to follow the Sunnah alongside the Qur’an.